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Training Myths: Lifting one muscle per day is the best way

When you think about human movement and performance there is not very much in life that requires you to use just one muscle group. Even something as simple as standing is using hundreds of muscles and requires a strong core, legs, back and neck. If something as simple as standing requires more than one muscle why would we want to train just one muscle per day? Athletes need to be strong and efficient at using their body as a whole unit to perform specific skills. If an athlete was training one body part per day it would be unlikely that when it comes time for sport they would be able to coordinate movements and perform well. This is the same for activities of daily living as well. If you are carrying your laundry, picking up your child or grandchild, or trying to get all of the groceries in one trip you are using a large amount of muscles. It is so important that your body is not just strong and efficient in independent regions but strong as a whole unit. While some people believe that they will gain the most muscle mass through training one body part a day, we know that you will get better results, by training your body as a whole.

We have discussed muscular imbalances in the past and training one muscle group at a time makes you much more likely to develop muscular imbalances. If you are isolating one group each day it is much harder to assure you are working the muscles equally. When working a push and a pull as we do when we train the whole body it is much easier to keep a balance between the muscle groups. Muscular imbalances can lead to pain and often injury so we want to do as much as possible to avoid developing these.

Another factor to consider is how often you would need to work out to effectively train each muscle group 2-3 times a week when you are only focusing on one muscle group a day. The number one reason people do not exercise is lack of time. If you needed to lift weights every single day it makes training much more difficult to fit into your busy life! If the science behind training more than one muscle group at a time is not enough to have you convinced, the amount of time saved by training the body more efficiently should help get you on board!

The end of the Myths

While we have covered a variety of popular training myths that exist there is a lot of false information on training that is easily accessible. We want to make sure you know that if you have any questions at all you can ask a member of the FASTER team. We keep a well-educated staff for the purpose of providing you with the best experience possible. If the staff can help in any way they will and if they do not have the answers themselves they know reliable sources from which the information can be obtained. Never hesitate to ask for help from a friendly face!